Upside Robotics, a Canadian-based agritech startup, raised a
$7.5M seed round led by Plural with participation from Garage Capital and the founders of Clearpath Robotics.
The funding will be used to continue research and development and to keep up with demand: there are more than 200 farms on their waitlist. The company also hopes to expand beyond Canada, with a target of breaking into the US corn belt.
Carina Namih, Partner at Plural: "As capital floods into AI software with limited defensibility and flashy humanoid robots, Upside is applying these technologies to a sector that urgently needs it, in a way that already works. It helps farmers produce more food with fewer inputs, improves environmental outcomes and makes a difficult profession sustainable for the next generation."
Upside Robotics builds lightweight, solar-powered robots that deliver the right-sized amounts of fertiliser and nutrients to crops when they need it. The company's software uses proprietary algorithms to determine when and how much fertiliser plants need, based on weather and soil data.
"People always question if farmers are going to adopt new solutions, and they certainly are, and that's something that we've learned firsthand, as long as you can provide them with a clear [return on investment] and a clear reason why this technology was built," Tian said. "In our case, it wasn't something that we actually had to sell to farm; in a lot of cases, we've actually had farmers ask for this solution."
For more information, visit
Plural Features.
